Jldephonse quinet and aethue denis



(No Mo deL) I. QUI'NET & A. DENIS. APPARATUS EMPLOYED IN SINKING PITS OR SHAPTS. No. 284,895.

Patented Sept. 11, 1883.

Unrra rates:

'ATENT tries.

ILDEPHONSE QUINET AND ARTHUR DENIS, OF DENAIN, FRANCE.

APPARATUS EMPLOYED IN YSINKING PITS OR SHAFTS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 284,895, dated September 11, 1883,

Applicaiion filed March 19, I583. (No model.) Patented in France October 520, 1852, No. 151,630.

have invented a new and useful Improvement in Apparatus to be Employed in Sinking Pits or Shafts, (for which we have obtained a patent in France bearing date October 20, 1882, No.

151,630,) of which the following is a specification.

At the present time in working mines the deepening of the hoisting-shafts is effected with the aid of cages. and'corves as follows: At the bottom of one of these cages is suspended, by means of a rope, a tub with a movable bottom and of a capacity of about, say, ten bushels, which receives the earth that is broken down in the sinking when the miners have fired their shots. The cage is caused to descend upon the stops of the lowest stage, and the tub is then lowered to the bottom, where the operatives fill the same. The whole is then raised again, the operatives close a trap-door, and bring a corf held in readiness in a drift or gallery. The whole apparatus is lowered again, so as to allow the tub to be emptied into the corf, which is then withdrawn into the drift, and the cage again descends tothe bottomto allow a new charge to be filled in, and so on till all the rub,

bish is removed. hen the emptying is done, the tub is detached from the cage, is placed in a drift, and the corves are replaced in the cage to be sent tothe pits mouth, so that in conveying the material broken down for sinking about a yard by about five yards diameter in twenty-four hours the tub has to travel upward seventy-five timesfrom the bottom to the re ceiving-stage, where two workmen are employed, and then the cages with the corves have to ascend thirty-five times from that stage to the bank, whereby considerable loss of time is entailed for the miners occupied in the sinking. By working in this manner it will be necessary to finish the sinking before the drifts are begun at the intermediary stages and before the commercial working can commence, as the engine is not always suiiicient for raising the rubbish and for lowering the materials. Twenty-four workmen will, according to the nature of the strata to be traversed, sink diameter in twenty-four hours. They would thus require about ninety days for sinking,

and seventy feet, and as much for preparing the side drifts for about six hundred and twenty feet toward thesouth and also the north,

lVhen some thirty to forty feet are sunk, the .pit is built in ascending and placing guideposts, say, at each yard. The materials have to be lowered with corves to the last stage and pass into the galleries or drifts, and are afterward lowered by means of the tub to the point where the sinking has stopped. It will be obvious that this produces loss'of time and slowness of progress. To obviate this great loss of time and to accelerate the work is .the object of the following invention, which allows the bottom of the pit to be continually reached with two cages. This system consists of two movable frames, A, Figures 1 and 2, which are both vertical sections of portions of the shaft, which are always applied to the last guides fixed in the pit. These frames are suspended each by two ropes, B, of a certain length, and this may vary from, say, siXty-fiveto one hun-' dred feet between the lower roller, 0, and the top one, D, round which the ropes pass. They carry at the other end a counter-weight, E, of sufficient weight to cause the frames to reascend and to keep it against the guides.

hen the rubbish is to be removed, the en gine is started, one of the cages arrives upon one of the frames, carries it away by its weight, and occupies the position shown in dotted lines in Fig. 1, which indicate that part of the sinking where no guides are 'yet provided. WVhen passing upon the frame-work, the cage sets a signal-bell off, so as to warn the operatives of its arrival. These then fill the corves and give the signal, and the cage is raised, and the frame drawn up by the counter-weight takes its'position underneath the fixed guides, so as to the cage to the pit s mouth. The second cage in turn passes into the second frame and carries it to the bottom, so that reloading may take place, and these operations are repeated say, one hundred and sixty to one hundred on an average about two feet by five yards using mechanical boring devices therefor.

afford a continuous guidance for the raising of till the loose materialis entirely removed. 10o

When from, say, thirty to forty-five feet have been sunk, the material required for masonry and for the permanent guides in the pit is lowered. The beams for the guides are put in gradually as the masonry proceeds, and the guides are only begun when the bottom of the courseis reached. Alength of about ten yards of the shaft is left with guidesuinconstructed, so that it may not be exposed to the effects of the shots while sinking.

The advantages offered by this method are the following: First, we dispense with four men per twenty-four hours for receiving the tub at the last stage; second, we dispensewith the tub and with the rope on which it is sus-' pended, this latter having always to be equal in length to the depth of the shaft to be sunk; third, less loss of time by the workmen employed for boring and constructing the shafts, consequently a greater progress per twentyfour hours and diminution of the cost; fourth, preparation of the drifts and galleries at the same time that the shaft is being sunk, consequently the mine can be worked immediately after the shaft is sunk, and consequently, also, another loss of time is avoided, to the advantages of the owner, who is enabled to dispose of his produce during ati-me at least equal to that required for sinking; fifth, it is possible to set up, when a new shaft is being sunk, all the building machinery and material required for the working, so that as soon as the level of the first heading is passed the machines can be directly brought into operation, just as if the shaft were in full working.

We claima 1. In appliances for sinking shafts, a fixed guide or way combined with a suspended movable frame carrying-a cage or receptacle for the material to be raised or lowered, said frame and receptacle being arranged to descend be low the lower end of the way, substantially as and for the purposes specified.

2. The combination, with th emovable guides A A, of the ropes B B and counterbalanceweights E E, substantially as and for the purposes set forth and shown.

' ILDEPHONSE QUINET.

1 ARTHUR DENIS.

\Vitnesses:

EMILE KUrr, RoB'r. M; HoorER. 

